When my father and I started a company to 3D print human tissues and organs, some people initially thought we were a little crazy. But since then, much progress has been made, both in our lab and other labs around the world. And given this, we started getting questions like, "If you can grow human body parts, can you also grow animal products like meat and leather?"
Kur une dhe babai im krijuam nje kompani per te printuar ne 3 dimensione inde dhe organe njerezore, ne fillim, disa njerez menduam se ishim pak te shkare. Por, qe prej atehere eshte bere shume progres, si ne laboratorin tone ashtu dhe ne laboratore te tjere ne mbare boten. Si rrjedhoje, filluan te na beheshin pyetje si, "Nqse, jeni te afte te krijoni pjese te trupit njerezor, a jeni ne gjendje te krijoni prodhime shtazore, si mish a lekure?"
When someone first suggested this to me, quite frankly I thought they were a little crazy, but what I soon came to realize was that this is not so crazy after all. What's crazy is what we do today. I'm convinced that in 30 years, when we look back on today and on how we raise and slaughter billions of animals to make our hamburgers and our handbags, we'll see this as being wasteful and indeed crazy. Did you know that today we maintain a global herd of 60 billion animals to provide our meat, dairy, eggs and leather goods? And over the next few decades, as the world's population expands to 10 billion, this will need to nearly double to 100 billion animals.
Kur dikush ma beri kete sugjerim, te them te drejten mendova se ishte pak i shkare, por ajo cka kuptova me vone eshte qe kjo nuk ka asgje te keqe. Ajo qe mund te konsiderohet e shkare eshte ajo cka bejme sot. Jam i sigurt qe pas 30 vitesh, kur ta kthejme koken pas per te pare se si therrim miliarda kafshe per te bere hamburger ose canta, do ta kuptojme se sa e demshme dhe cmenduri eshte e gjithe kjo. A e dini qe ne sot mbajme nje ferme globale prej 60 miliarde kafshesh per te na siguruar mishin, qumeshtin, vezen dhe produktet tona te lekures? Dhe ne dekadat qe do te vine, teksa popullsia e botes rritet ne 10 miliarde, kjo duhet te dyfishohet pra, 100 miliarde kafshe.
But maintaining this herd takes a major toll on our planet. Animals are not just raw materials. They're living beings, and already our livestock is one of the largest users of land, fresh water, and one of the biggest producers of greenhouse gases which drive climate change. On top of this, when you get so many animals so close together, it creates a breeding ground for disease and opportunities for harm and abuse. Clearly, we cannot continue on this path which puts the environment, public health, and food security at risk.
Por, mbajtja e kesaj ferme ka pasoja te medha ne planetin tone. Kafshet nuk jane vetem lende e pare. Ato jane qenie te gjalla, dhe qe tani bagetia jone eshte nje nga perdoruesit me te medhenj te tokes, ujit te paster, dhe nje nga prodhuesit me te medhenj te gazeve qe shkaktojne efektin sere dhe ndikojne ne ndryshimet klimatike. Mbi kete, kur kemi kaq shume kafshe kaq prane njera-tjetres, krijohet nje ambient qe favorizon semundjet si dhe mundesine per abuzime dhe lendime. Sic duket qartazi, nuk mund te vazhdohet me keshtu duke vendosur ne rrezik ambientin, shendetin publik dhe sigurine e ushqimit.
There is another way, because essentially, animal products are just collections of tissues, and right now we breed and raise highly complex animals only to create products that are made of relatively simple tissues. What if, instead of starting with a complex and sentient animal, we started with what the tissues are made of, the basic unit of life, the cell?
Ka nje menyre tjeter, pasi esencialisht, prodhimet shtazore nuk jane gje tjeter vec grumbullim indesh, dhe tashme ne mbajme dhe rrisim kafshe komplekse vetem e vetem per te patur prodhime te krijuara nga inde te thjeshta. Po sikur, ne vend qe te fillojme me nje kafshe te ndjeshme dhe komplekse, ta nisim me indet qe i krijojne ato, njesine baze te jetes, qelizen?
This is biofabrication, where cells themselves can be used to grow biological products like tissues and organs. Already in medicine, biofabrication techniques have been used to grow sophisticated body parts, like ears, windpipes, skin, blood vessels and bone, that have been successfully implanted into patients. And beyond medicine, biofabrication can be a humane, sustainable and scalable new industry.
Kjo quhet biofabrikim, ku vete qelizat mund te perdoren per rritjen e produkteve biologjike si indet dhe organet. Tashme te perdorshme ne mjekesi, teknikat e biofabrikimit jane perdorur per te krijuar pjese te sofistikuara te trupit njerezor, si veshe, laring, lekure, ene gjaku dhe kocka, te cilat jane implantuar me sukses tek pacientet. Dhe pertej mjekesise, biofabrikimi mund te jete nje industri e re humane dhe e qendrueshme.
And we should begin by reimagining leather. I emphasize leather because it is so widely used. It is beautiful, and it has long been a part of our history. Growing leather is also technically simpler than growing other animal products like meat. It mainly uses one cell type, and it is largely two-dimensional. It is also less polarizing for consumers and regulators. Until biofabrication is better understood, it is clear that, initially at least, more people would be willing to wear novel materials than would be willing to eat novel foods, no matter how delicious. In this sense, leather is a gateway material, a beginning for the mainstream biofabrication industry. If we can succeed here, it brings our other consumer bioproducts like meat closer on the horizon.
Kjo duhet nisur nga riimagjinimi i lekures. Theksoj lekuren, sepse eshte kaq e perdorshme gjeresisht sot. Eshte shume e bukur dhe ka qene pjese e historise sone per kaq shume kohe. Te krijosh lekure eshte teknikisht me e lehte se te krijosh produkte te tjera kafshesh si mish pershembull. Perdoret vetem nje lloj qelize, dhe ne shumicen e rasteve eshte 2 dimensionale. Gjithashtu, eshte me pak e polarizuar per kosumatoret dhe rregullvenesit. Deri ne momentin kur biofabrikimi te kuptohet me mire, esht e qarte qe, si fillim te pakten, me shume njerez do te duan te veshin materiale novatore se sa do te duan te hane ushqime te tilla, pak rendesi ka se sa te shijshme jane keto te fundit. Ne kete kuptim, lekura eshte nje material qe sherben si rrugedalje, nje gjeneze per industrine e biofabrikimit. Nese mund te kemi sukses ketu, atehere prodhimet bio, si mishi, vine me prane konsumatoreve.
Now how do we do it? To grow leather, we begin by taking cells from an animal, through a simple biopsy. The animal could be a cow, lamb, or even something more exotic. This process does no harm, and Daisy the cow can live a happy life. We then isolate the skin cells and multiply them in a cell culture medium. This takes millions of cells and expands them into billions. And we then coax these cells to produce collagen, as they would naturally. This collagen is the stuff between cells. It's natural connective tissue. It's the extracellular matrix, but in leather, it's the main building block. And what we next do is we take the cells and their collagen and we spread them out to form sheets, and then we layer these thin sheets on top of one another, like phyllo pastry, to form thicker sheets, which we then let mature. And finally, we take this multilayered skin and through a shorter and much less chemical tanning process, we create leather. And so I'm very excited to show you, for the first time, the first batch of our cultured leather, fresh from the lab. This is real, genuine leather, without the animal sacrifice. It can have all the characteristics of leather because it is made of the same cells, and better yet, there is no hair to remove, no scars or insect's bites, and no waste. This leather can be grown in the shape of a wallet, a handbag or a car seat. It is not limited to the irregular shape of a cow or an alligator.
Por si e bejme ne kete? Per te krijuar lekure, ne nisim duke marre qeliza nga nje kafshe, nepermjet nje biopsie te thjeshte. Kafsha mund te jete nje lope, qingj, ose edhe dicka me ekzotike Ky proces nuk i demton kafshet, lopa Daisy mund te jetoje nje jete te lumtur. Hapi i dyte eshte izolimi i qelizes se lekures dhe shumimi ne nje substance te kultures qelizore. Kjo mban miliona qeliza dhe i shton ato ne miliarda. Me vone prej tyre ne prodhojme kolagjen, sikunder ndodh ne menyre natyrale. Ky kolagjen eshte materiali qe ndodhet mes qelizave. Eshte materiali qe ngjit indet. Eshte matriksi ekstraqelizor, por ne lekure, eshte blloku kryesor i ndertimit. Ajo qe bejme me pas, eshte te marrim qelizat dhe kolagjenin e prodhuar dhe i shtrojme per te krijuar tabake, keto tabake i vendosim mbi njeri-tjetrin, sikunder behet me petat e bakllavase, per te formuar shtresa me te trashe, te cilet me pas i leme qe te maturohen. Ne fund, e marrim kete lekure te perbere nga shume shtresa dhe e ngjyrosim nepermjet nje procesi me te shkurter e me pak kimik , per te krijuar lekure. Dhe, sot jam shume krenar t'ju tregoj, per here te pare, grumbullin e pare me lekure laboratori, e sapo dale prej tij. Kjo eshte nje lekure e vertete, por pa qene e nevojshme te sakrifikonim kafshe. Ka te gjitha karakteristikat e lekures sepse eshte prodhuar nga e njejta qelize, por me mire akoma, nuk ka qime per te shkulur, as shenja te shkaktuara nga pickimet e insekteve, dhe as humbje. Kjo lekure mund te krijohet ne formen e nje kulete, nje cante ose nje sedilje makine. Nuk eshte e limituar nga forma e parregullt e nje lope ose e nje krokodili.
And because we make this material, we grow this leather from the ground up, we can control its properties in very interesting ways. This piece of leather is a mere seven tissue layers thick, and as you can see, it is nearly transparent. And this leather is 21 layers thick and quite opaque. You don't have that kind of fine control with conventional leather. And we can tune this leather for other desirable qualities, like softness, breathability, durability, elasticity and even things like pattern. We can mimic nature, but in some ways also improve upon it. This type of leather can do what today's leather does, but with imagination, probably much more.
Dhe sepse ne e krijojme vete kete material, duke u perkujdesur per cdo aspekt, jemi te afte te kontrollojme vetite e saj ne menyra mjaft interesante. Kjo cope lekure eshte e krijuar nga shtate shtresa indesh, dhe sikunder mund te shihni eshte thuajse transparente. Kjo cope tjeter lekure eshte krijuar nga 21 shtresa dhe eshte mjaft opake. Me lekuren tradicionale nuk mund te kemi ate lloj kontrolli. Dhe kjo lekure mund te amendohet edhe ne baze te disa cilesive te tjera te deshiruara, si butesia, frymemarrja, fortesia, elasticiteti bile mund te krijosh dizenjo. Mund te imitojme natyren, por ne disa raste dhe ta permiresojme ate. Kjo lloj lekure mund te beje ate cka ben sot lekura tradicionale, por me pak imagjinate, mund te beje shume me shume.
What could the future of animal products look like? It need not look like this, which is actually the state of the art today. Rather, it could be much more like this. Already, we have been manufacturing with cell cultures for thousands of years, beginning with products like wine, beer and yogurt. And speaking of food, our cultured food has evolved, and today we prepare cultured food in beautiful, sterile facilities like this. A brewery is essentially a bioreactor. It is where cell culture takes place. Imagine that in this facility, instead of brewing beer, we were brewing leather or meat. Imagine touring this facility, learning about how the leather or meat is cultured, seeing the process from beginning to end, and even trying some. It's clean, open and educational, and this is in contrast to the hidden, guarded and remote factories where leather and meat is produced today. Perhaps biofabrication is a natural evolution of manufacturing for mankind. It's environmentally responsible, efficient and humane. It allows us to be creative. We can design new materials, new products, and new facilities. We need to move past just killing animals as a resource to something more civilized and evolved. Perhaps we are ready for something literally and figuratively more cultured.
Si mund te jete e ardhmja e produkteve shtazore? Nuk ka pse te jete keshtu, cka ne te vertete eshte me e mira sot. Perkundrazi, mund te jete me teper e ketille. Tashme, kemi nisur te prodhojme kultura qelizore per mijera vite, duke filluar me produkte si vera, birra dhe kosi. Dhe mqse po flasim per ushqim, ushqimet e kultivuara kane evoluar, dhe sot prodhojme ushqime te kultivuara ne fabrika te bukura dhe sterile si kjo ketu. Nje fabrike birre nuk eshte gje tjeter vecse nje bioreaktor. Eshte aty ku ndodh kultura qelizore. Imagjino qe ne kete fabrike, ne vend te prodhimit te birres, ne te ishim duke prodhuar lekure ose mish. Imagjino ta vizitoni kete fabrike te mesoni se si prodhohet lekura a mishi, ta shihni procesin me syte tuaj nga fillimi ne fund, dhe pse jo te provoni pak. Eshte e paster, e hapur dhe edukative, dhe kjo eshte e kunderta e atyre fermave te fshehta, te ruajtura me roje ku prodhohet lekura dhe mishi sot. Ndoshta biofabrikimi eshte nje evolucion natyral i prodhimit per njerezimin. Eshte ambientalisht i pergjegjshem, efikas dhe njerezor. Na jep lirine e te qenit krijues. Mund te prodhojme materiale te reja, produkte te reja, dhe fabrika te reja. Ne duhet ta bejme pjese te se shkuares vrasjen e kafsheve, te trajtuara thjesht si nje burim, te dicka me e qyteteruar dhe me e evoluar. Ndoshta jemi gati per dicka me te kultivuar ne te vertete dhe ne menyre figurative.
Thank you.
Faleminderit.
(Applause)
(duartrokitje)